Sociodemographic and geographic disparities in excess fatal drug overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic in California: A population-based study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is co-occurring with a drug addiction and overdose crisis.

Methods

We fit overdispersed Poisson models, accounting for seasonality and secular trends, to estimate the excess fatal drug overdoses (i.e., deaths greater than expected), using data on all deaths in California from 2016 to 2020.

Findings

Between January 5, 2020 and December 26, 2020, there were 8605 fatal drug overdoses-a 44% increase over the same period one year prior. We estimated 2084 (95% CI: 1925 to 2243) fatal drug overdoses were excess deaths, representing 5·28 (4·88 to 5·68) excess fatal drug overdoses per 100,000 population. Excess fatal drug overdoses were driven by opioids (4·48 [95% CI: 4·18 to 4·77] per 100,000), especially synthetic

SUBMITTER: Kiang MV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8934030 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature